Anton Batagov


Anton Batagov is a Russian pianist and post-minimalist composer. "One of the most significant and unusual figures of Russian contemporary music", according to 'Newsweek's Russian edition in 1997, Batagov is an influential Russian composer and performer.
WWW batagov.comFB Batagov

Biography

A graduate of the Gnessin School and the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory and prize-winner at the International Tchaikovsky Competition and other competitions, Batagov introduced music by John Cage, Morton Feldman, Steve Reich and Philip Glass to Russian audiences. From 1989 to 1996 Batagov was the artistic director of the festival of Alternativa, a festival of contemporary music. Batagov's work has been influential on the understanding of classical and new music in Russia.
In 1997 he stopped performing live for 12 years to focus on composition and studio recordings.
The style of Batagov's post-minimalist compositions is rooted in the harmonic and rhythmic patterns of Russian church bells and folk songs seamlessly mixed with the spirit of Buddhist philosophy and the dynamic pulse of early Soviet avant-garde. His discography includes over 50 albums. Batagov is the author of several movie soundtracks, and original music for major Russian TV channels.
In 2009 he returned to live performances. Since then, he has been performing a series of unique solo piano programs. His repertoire includes works by Bach, Pachelbel, Purcell and early English music, Mozart, Schubert, Debussy, as well as many other composers, and his numerous piano compositions. He has performed at The Grand Hall of Moscow Conservatory and The Grand Hall of St.Petersburg Philharmonie, Moscow International House of Music and Zaryadye Hall, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Jordan Hall, and Bing Concert Hall, Elbphilharmonie, The Berliner Philharmonie and Philharmonie de Paris, Musiikkitalo and Reduta Hall, Teatro Regio and Palau de la Música Catalana, and many other venues. The list of festivals he has participated in includes Diaghilev Festival, Ruhrtriennale, Next Wave and Bang on a Can, Glass at 80, Aarhus 2017 Festival, and others.
Batagov is one of the key performers of piano works by Philip Glass. Batagov's recordings and live performances include The complete Etudes, Batagov's piano arrangements of scenes from Einstein on the Beach and Koyaanisqatsi, music from The Hours, Distant figure, and other works.
Anton Batagov's compositions have been performed and recorded by outstanding Russian classical and rock musicians and orchestras. Numerous musicological articles and dissertations have been written about his music. The philosophy of Batagov's projects eliminates any boundaries between "performance" and "composition" by viewing all existing musical practices—from ancient rituals to rock and pop culture and advanced computer technologies—as inseparable elements of his practice.

Discography

;Music by Anton Batagov
  • I was looking at green trees for a long time
  • Music for December
  • Best Before 02.2000
  • Prayers and Dances
  • Music for the 35 Buddhas
  • The Wheel of the Law
  • Music for Piano
  • Save Changes Before Closing?
  • Symphony.ru
  • From the Beginning up to the End
  • Tetractys
  • Music for Films
  • Passionate Desire to Be an Angel
  • Breathing In Breathing Out
  • The Monk Thogmey's Thirty-Seven Precepts
  • The Musicmaker's Contract
  • ab & xmz. The Piano And Other Sounds
  • Lama Sonam Dorje & Anton Batagov. Daily Practice
  • Bodhicharyavatara
  • ab & xmz II
  • Tayatha
  • Selected Letters of Sergei Rachmaninoff
  • Post Production
  • I Fear No More. Selected songs and meditations of John Donne
  • The One Thus Gone
  • Where We Are Not. Letters of Mother Seraphima
  • 16+
  • Disquiet
  • Made in 1993: The Art of Sampling
  • Lamrim. A Prayer to the Gurus
  • I See Your Dream. You See My Dream
  • Invisible Lands
  • Early Piano Works Revisited
  • Optical Illusion
  • Quietude and Joy As Envisioned by Russian Painters
  • Bodhicharyavatara
  • Dialog
  • The Last Alchemist
  • The Well-Meditated Clavier
  • Music for December
  • Tat Tvam Asi
  • Samsara Ocean
  • Bobeobi
  • Strings, Piano
  • Different Things
;Music by various composers performed by Anton Batagov
  • Messiaen: Vingt Regards sur l'Enfant-Jesus
  • Rails
  • Bach: Die Kunst der Fuge
  • Ravel: Piano works Alexandre Rabinovitch: Oeuvres pour piano
  • The New Ravel
  • Yesterday Vladimir Martynov: Opus posth Sergei Zagny: Sonata
  • Remix Morton Feldman: Triadic Memories
  • The Battell
  • Alle Menschen Müssen Sterben
  • Prophecies
  • Tchaikovsky Competition 1986
  • BACH
  • Philip Glass: The Complete Etudes
  • An Evening Hymn
  • Big My Secret
  • Philip Glass: The Hours / Distant Figure
  • Sunny Night
  • Debussy. Preludes, Book 1
  • SCHUBERT
  • One Two Three. Music in triple time
  • Seven Works of Johann Pachelbel